agencies are now at work in general education; and plans have been suggested for the training of a Native ministry.  A reprint of the Malagasy Testament has been undertaken by the Bible Society; the general operations of the press are being enlarged; and they are anxious to strengthen the Medical Mission.  The missionary brethren are watching with wise and jealous care over the purity, the discipline, and the spiritual independence of the Native churches; and a union of those churches for mutual aid has been inaugurated during the year.

With numerous Romanist priests and sisters in the capital, the Protestant ministers, English and Native, are firm in their adherence to the Bible alone as the appointed instructor and guide of their people.  And it is because the preaching of vital truth has been so blessed, that the Directors are anxious to prevent the introduction of all minor controversies.  Therefore they cannot but consider that, in the absence of any number of converts in the Episcopal missions, the appointment of a Bishop of the Church of England to Madagascar, promoted by one of those missions, is undesirable; that it is calculated to introduce confusion among young converts; to hinder their spiritual progress; and to do them vital and lasting injury.  They have therefore very earnestly pressed upon the proposers of the scheme that it shall be reconsidered; and they trust that, as a result of friendly conference, it may be altogether laid aside.

XI.—­MISSIONS IN INDIA.

In India two hundred millions of people are placed under the indirect jurisdiction or the direct rule of the Queen of England.  The empire is divided into many great provinces, in which are spoken ten principal languages.  All along the great rivers are scattered great cities, surrounded by hundreds of large towns, and thousands of populous villages.  Many of them are centres of a trade growing greater every year, and many are also headquarters of Mohammedanism and of Hindoo idolatry.  The endowments and vested interests of idolatry are of enormous value; the Brahmin families may be counted by millions; the Hindoo religious books were commenced 1200 years B.C., and the system itself goes back a thousand years farther still.  Such a system is a formidable antagonist and the barriers it raises against change are very strong.  Yet even Hindooism, so powerful, so rich, so ancient, is giving way at every point.  In the external life of the Empire, a just government, providing for every one of its subjects complete security of person and property, and giving them perfect religious liberty, is adapting its public laws and forms of administration more fully to the circumstances of the time; and is introducing the natives more numerously to those posts of duty and of usefulness for which they become fitted.  The order and peace of the country, encouraging production and trade, have raised the wages of labour, and given